Budd Bailey - Mookie Betts: Baseball Record-Breaker

Opposite: Mookie Betts emerged as one of baseballs best players in 2018.

Introduction

Big Enough

I t was the start of the third inning of the last game of the 2018 regular season for the Boston Red Sox, and the fans were in a festive mood. They had watched their favorite team have the greatest regular season in its history, as Boston was on its way to its 108th win.

At that point, Red Sox manager Alex Cora sent utility player Tzu-Wei Lin out to right field so that star outfielder Mookie Betts could receive one more standing ovation as he left the game and ended his regular season. Bettss departure from Game 162 meant that he officially had won the American League batting championship with a .346 averagethe first Red Sox player to do so since Wade Boggs in 1988.

Most Valuable Player

However, the fans wanted more for Mookie, so they chanted M-V-P as he left the field. Betts, they thought, was the clear choice for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in the American Leaguethe greatest individual honor that a player can win in a season. Teammate J. D. Martinez, who also was under consideration for MVP honors, would have voted for his teammate.

The 2018 season proved unforgettable for Mookie. Not only did he win many individual awards, but he led the Boston Red Sox to a World Series championship.

If hes not your MVP, I dont know who is, Martinez said after the game. Hes as good as advertised.

Betts was the first batting champion to lead the major leagues in batting average while compiling thirty home runs and stealing thirty bases. The outfielder also became the first American League player to lead the majors in both batting average and extra-base hits since Mickey Mantle did it in 1956. In the clubhouse after his shortened workday, Betts was busy looking forward to the postseason instead of looking backward at his regular season.

If that time comes and if Im able to win it, Betts said of the MVP Award, then cool. If not, no worries. Im worried about the World Series right now.

As we later learned, Betts would be collecting awards, trophies, and honors for the rest of 2018. When he won that Most Valuable Player vote, the young star became the third Red Sox player to be a batting champion and MVP award winner in the same year. Ted Williams, considered one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, never did it. Only Carl Yastrzemski and Jimmie Foxx completed that double.

In addition, the Red Sox won the World Series, which for Betts, capped one of the greatest individual seasons in baseball history. When a list of baseballs best players is compiled in the near future, Mookie Bettss name almost assuredly will be on it.

Small for a Superstar

For the most part, Bettss superstar status isnt a great surprise to those who have followed his athletic accomplishments over the years. Hes always been great in everything he does, mixing athletic ability with a drive to work on all parts of his game in order to get better. Thats something of a common element with the all-time greats.

However, Betts has had some doubters along the way, and its because of one particular measurementsize. Betts always has been on the small side, but he has been proving that he belongs with the best throughout his lifestarting at the age of five. He eventually reached a height of 5 feet 9 inches (1.8 meters) and180 pounds (82 kilograms). Baseball scouts prefer their prospects to be big and strong like Mike Trout, the sensational outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels. He is 6 feet 3 inches tall (1.9 m) and 235 pounds (107 kg). Even future teammate Xander Bogaerts didnt give Betts a second look when he saw him for the first time in 2011. He was short, Bogaerts said. I didnt think much of him. I was not impressed.

Phil Rizzuto wasnt a particularly big man for a professional athlete, but that small body contained plenty of talent. The New York Yankees shortstop is a member of baseballs Hall of Fame.

History teaches us that while its difficult for a comparatively small player to win an MVP trophy, its still possible. The 5 foot 2 (1.7 m) Phil Rizzuto of the New York Yankees was the American Leagues best in 1950, and the 5 foot 9 (1.8 m) Dustin Pedroia Bettss teammate with the Red Soxtook home MVP honors in 2008. In 2017, Jos Altuve of the Houston Astros won the leagues top honor. He is only 5 feet 6 inches (1.7 m) tall, but his batting average was .346 with twenty-four home runs. Then came Mookie.

Mookies size doesnt matter, teammate Andrew Benintendi said to ESPN in 2018. Its all about how you use what you have.

Lets go back in time almost three decades and tell the story about how Mookie Betts went from too small to too good.